It's a few days late & not about ferrets, but I feel like I have to
respond.  I have just read 4 posts from earlier this week referring to
"Ebonics."
 
Remember Ebonics?  The name was invented a few years ago to refer to black
English.  If i remember right the term was originally intended to
legitimize & dignify a pattern of speech until then considered not to be
legitimate, but "Ebonics" quickly became the object of racist jokes, and
evolved into a code word for "n----r talk" (used by people just couth
enough to have stopped saying "n----r" in public), & usually uttered in a
snickering kind of way.
 
The posts I just read referred to "ebonics" as ignorant speech.  The second
post was by an anonymous someone insulted that anyone might think he or she
spoke "ebonics."  The last 2 posts chided anyone who might complain to have
a sense of humor.
 
I know the fml is not a forum about racism - it is a place to post about
ferrets.  But I just felt slapped in the face after reading those posts.
 
Bill, this is a request to consider this the kind of ethnic slur that
should not be allowed on the fml.
 
Thanks.
 
---sharin
 
[Moderator's note: I'm not completely familiar with the term -- some do
indeed get sent back for rewriting.  Thanks for explanation. BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 3057]